#distant buildings

[preraphaelitepaintings]

The Rose from Armida's Garden

Artist: Marie Spartali Stillman (British, 1844-1927)

Date: 1894

Medium: Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour with gum arabic

Collection: Private Collection

Description

Armida was an enchantress in Tasso's epic poem about the Crusaders, Jerusalem Delivered, published in 1581. She used her charms to seduce the Crusaders from their vows and duty. Her palace, surrounded by magnificent pleasure grounds, was so luxurious and splendid that 'the Gardens of Armida' have become a synonym for gorgeous luxury.

[landscapeandmarine]

Swiss Landscape

Artist: Alexandre Calame (Swiss, 1810-1864)

Date: c. 1830

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States

[artandthebible]

Saint Peter

Artist: Lorenzo Costa (Italian, 1460-1535)

Date: 1505

Medium: Oil on wood, transferred to canvas

Collection: The National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Description

This balding, grey-bearded saint can be identified as Saint Peter by the keys which he rests on his thigh and supports with his right hand. These are the keys to the kingdom of heaven, which Christ gave Peter as a symbol of his spiritual power. The keys themselves are unusually slender and elongated, just as the saint is younger, slighter and taller than he is often shown. He looks out at the viewer and raises his left hand in blessing.

[artemlegere]

The Bride of Lammermoor

Artist: Sir Edwin Landseer (English, 1802-1873)

Date: ca. 1830

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsyvania, United States

Description

Sir Walter Scott, the most famous British novelist of the early nineteenth century, constructed a classic rescue scenario in The Bride of Lammermoor, a romance of thwarted love, murder, insanity, and suicide. Sir Edwin Landseer imagined the moment when the hero, Edgar, rushes in to save the heroine, Lucy, whose red shawl has attracted an angry bull. Edgar, armed and dark, plants a victorious foot on the animal while glowering at Lucy’s father, his mortal enemy; Lucy, in white, swoons, unaware of the identity of her mysterious hero. Engraved as the frontispiece to Scott’s novel, this image was widely circulated.

[galleryofart]

Lady on Horseback

Artist: José Campeche y Jordán (Puerto Rican, 1751-1809)

Date: 1785

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico

[worldbuildingprompts]

World Building Prompt #124

[landscapeandmarine]

The Palace of Donn'Anna, Naples

Artist: Jules Coignet (French, Paris 1798–1860 Paris)

Date: 1843

Medium: Oil on paper, laid down on canvas

Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States

This is a classic view of the unfinished palace designed by Cosimo Fanzago for Anna Carafa, wife of a seventeenth-century Spanish viceroy of Naples. With Vesuvius smoldering in the distance, Castel del’Ovo jutting into the bay, and Neapolitan boatmen plying the water, all the elements of the picturesque are present in this composition. As if to contravene the scene’s sense of timelessness, Coignet incised the location and date into the still-wet paint at lower left, emphasizing the speed with which he completed the painting.

[kkygeek]

Coastal Exploration on Enoshima Island by Francois Flibotte Via Flickr: A person stands on a rock overlooking the Pacific Ocean from the rocky shores of Enoshima Island, with other visitors exploring the tide pools and a distant coastline visible under a cloudy sky.